The Odd Couple
by Knich94
Summary: Lexa Woods lives a quiet life, but the peaceful life she lives changes when she gets a new neighbor. Clarke Griffin is an artist, but finds her creativity gone. She hopes that a move will bring it back. Domestic Clexa loving each other and loving their pets, who also love each other. There will be some serious stuff down the line, but this is all fluff for now.
1. Introducing: Heda

Lexa lets out a sigh as she puts her black F150 in park in her driveway. To her left, a large U-Haul truck is sitting in the neighboring driveway with the door open and a trail of boxes leading to the front door.

"Guess I finally got a new neighbor." Lexa mumbles to herself as she heaves the heavy door open and steps down from her truck. Heading towards the back of the truck, she opens the tailgate and slings a bag of all natural dog food over one shoulder and a large reusable grocery bag filled with food for herself over the other. She gives her neighbor's yard one last glance but upon seeing no other sign of life, she heads inside to her own home.

The first thing Lexa does when she gets inside her home is lock her 9 mm into a safe that opens only by her fingerprint and then place that safe into a drawer that locks by combination. She isn't worried about robbers breaking into her house and stealing her weapon, more about her living companion.

"I'm home!" She calls out loudly as she drops the bag of groceries into the kitchen. When she gets no reply, she huffs and brings the dog food into the garage, where she puts the bag into an old freezer that looks like something serial killers would store bodies in. Making sure that the lock on it is secure, she heads back into the kitchen and looks around for her companion.

"I'm sorry I'm late, but I had to finish up the paperwork on the poachers we caught in the park earlier this week." Still no response.

Lexa sighs and carefully puts all her food in its designated place in the fridge. The few items she buys that don't need refrigeration get put away in her carefully child locked cabinets. Before she heads upstairs, she glances out into the backyard, but still doesn't see anything. Odd. It was unusual for _her_ to not be awaiting Lexa's arrival at home.

Her exhaustion wins out over her worry, and Lexa strips off her dirt and sweat covered clothes and jumps in the shower, luxuriating in the hot spray and spending plenty of time conditioning and detangling her hair. It's the one thing she doesn't skip no matter how tired she is. Once all the knots are out of her hair, she decides to skip shaving her legs and steps out of the shower, wrapping her hair in one towel and her body in another.

Lexa checks to make sure that the door is closed and locked before fishing her glasses out of their hiding place in the box of tampons. _She_ likes to steal and rehide the glasses, and it was always a constant battle to keep them out of _her_ clutches. Of course, it was all in good fun, just another norm of living with her companion that Lexa had become accustomed to. After taking out her contacts and slipping on her glasses, Lexa heads into her bedroom and slips on some underwear, a pair of leggings, and a one-size-too-big tank top – her go to comfy clothes.

"Hey girl!" She calls out, hopeful, but still finds herself alone in the house. She is truly starting to worry, as this had never happened before. She quickly glances into the spare bedroom and bathroom upstairs but they are just as empty as the rest of her house seems to be. Grabbing her phone, she shoots a quick text to Anya and then tucks it into her waist band as she pads her way down the steps.

The slight brunette only makes it halfway down her stairs before she hears a loud, unfamiliar yowl coming from somewhere inside her house. She freezes in terror and thinks about going for her gun, until she hears a somewhat familiar snarl. Her protective instincts kick in, and she runs the rest of the way down the stairs, following the new hissing and snarling noises.

As Lexa slides to a stop in her kitchen, she breathes out a sigh of relief as she finally locates her housemate. " _Heda_ , there you are! Silly coon, I have been looking…" Lexa trails off as she finally catches sight of the largest cat she has ever seen in her entire life. The yellow, fluffy beast glares and hisses at her from its place on the center island directly opposite from her pet raccoon. Her raccoon hisses back, defending her owner.

Lexa carefully lays her fingers on Heda's striped tail and runs them slowly up her back in a gentle manner, not wanting to startle her pet. " _Heda_ , it's OK." She coos, trying to prevent her baby from lunging at the invader in their home.

Heda leans back into Lexa's touch and stops hissing, but continues to bare her teeth at the invader into her lands. Taking this as the best chance for escape, the cat quickly leaps off the island and sprints out the dog door that Lexa had installed for Heda to use to go outside. Before Lexa can grab her, _Heda_ takes off after the yellow feline, growling and spitting as she bursts out the door and into the back yard.

"Heda, no!" Lexa yells, trying to grab her pet, but she is not quick enough. By the time she has unlocked the back door and run outside, the hissing and yowling noises have started up once again. Peering around in the twilight, she searches for the two animals in her backyard, but ultimately locates them based on the loud yowl that the yellow beast lets out.

Looking up, Lexa locates the two animals high up in the tall sycamore tree in the back left corner of her yard. Barefoot, Lexa stomps across the grass to the base of the tree and looks up.

" _Heda_! You get down right this instant!" A black masked face takes its eyes off its cornered prey to chitter loudly and in a scolding manner at her owner. "I mean it, right now!" The raccoon stares at Lexa for another moment and then goes right back to chittering angrily at the yellow cat, which only goads it into hissing back at the grey and black mammal.

Lexa groans and strides back into the house, rummages in a drawer in her fridge, and comes back out holding a bag. "I have graaaaapes!" Lexa sings out, waving the bag around as she stands at the base of the tree. Her furry friend freezes, looks at her owner, looks at the angry cat, looks at Lexa once again, gives the yellow beast one last glance, and then quickly scurries down the tree.

Lexa giggles as Heda crawls up her leg and perches on her shoulder, greedily reaching into the bag of grapes with two hands. "Ah ah ah!" Lexa quickly holds the bag out of reach of her pet. Before the animal can get angry, she pulls a few grapes off their stems and holds them out to her. "Not too many, can't have you getting fat on me now, can we?"

Heda chitters back at her owner before greedily snatching the grapes to happily shove them in her mouth as she gets a ride on her human back towards the house. Just before they reach the house, a pitiful yowl erupts from behind them, and continues for a solid minute.

Lexa is about to cover her ears, and Heda already is, when the door in the house next to them slams open, startling Heda enough that she falls off Lexa's shoulder as the door bangs loudly against the back of the house.

"Nala? Princess, where are you? Mommy's here!" A blonde woman shouts as she runs out into her backyard.

Lexa is frozen in shock as the most beautiful woman she has ever seen frantically calls out for 'Nala', which, with her luck, is the yellow beast that her raccoon got stuck in a tree.


	2. Introducing: Princess Nala

It was a normal Thursday when Clarke had finished loading the last of her belongings into the U-Haul and prepared to start the drive to her new home in Polis. The last but most important item she grabbed was her large yellow Maine Coon cat, Princess Nala.

"Let's go Princess, you ready to see your new home?" Clarke coos as she cradles the large animal in her arms like a baby. The cat trills happily and allows itself to be carried away from its home and set gently in the passenger seat of the truck. It's intelligent blue eyes look out the window and follow her owner as she walks around the back of the truck to double check the door is shut tightly and then climbs up inside the cab.

"You ready for our fresh start?" Clarke asks her traveling companion, who only replies by batting the air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror. Clarke laughs and gives the cat a quick pat on the head before inputting her address into Maps on her phone and putting the car in drive.

The blonde can't help feeling a little nostalgic as she drives through Arkadia one last time. She can't go more than a moment before a store or a street or a park brings up a memory of her time spent here with her friends and …. "No, I'm not going to think about that." Clarke tells herself as she cuts off her own thoughts. She needs a change in her life, and she's not going to let her memories hold her back any longer.

Sensing her owner's distress, Nala ceases her exploration of the small space in the cab of the truck and crawls up Clarke's arm to lay across her shoulders like a furry scarf. She rubs the top of her head against the blonde woman's and starts purring loudly.

"Thank you princess" Clarke whispers as she wipes a tear away and leans into the comfort her companion offers. After a few more minutes she finds herself feeling less somber as she pulls onto the on-ramp for the interstate. Carefully, as she is unused to driving such a large vehicle, Clarke turns on her blinker and merges onto the highway off to her fresh start.

She only makes it half an hour before the heat of the sun and lack of adequate air conditioning forces her to slide her fuzzy heater off from around her neck. She can practically feel the glare aimed her way as Nala settles back down on the bench seat next to her with a grumble. In response, Clarke turns on the radio and begins to sing loudly to the Top 20 station she finds. Nala rolls onto her back and watches in amusement as Clarke starts dancing along with her singing.

" _Girl, you know I want your love. Your love was handmade for somebody like me_. _Come on now, follow my lead. I may be crazy, don't mind me."_ Clarke pauses her singing to listen to Ed Sheeran sing the next few lines, accompanied by the happy trills of her cat. When it gets to the chorus, she resumes her singing. " _I'm in love with the shape of you_." Clarke makes sure to fluff all the fur on Nala's well rounded but _not_ fat belly. " _We push and pull like a magnet do. Although my heart is falling too, I'm in love with your body_." Clarke playfully twirls Nala's long tail around the air and giggles as her cat snatches it back indignantly. The two finish out the rest of the song, sitting side-by-side and staring out the window as the scenery changes from urban to rural.

Clarke manages to make it until she reaches the exit for Polis before she must stop to go to the bathroom and get food. The exit has a truck style gas station with lots of space and an extra tall roof over the gas station pumps, so she pulls in there to fill up the U-Haul. "Recalculating." A robotic voice sounds from her phone, and Clarke scrambles to grab it before it can issue any more commands. "Shut up Siri!" She growls as she swipes pause on the App so she can get gas and food in peace without it issuing any more orders.

After nearly pulling through the drive through at Chick-fil-A until a kind hearted older man had stopped her and told her that she wouldn't fit, she settles back in her seat with a bag full of a food and cup of lemonade. Just as she is about to dunk a fry into some Chick-fil-A sauce, she feels predatory eyes settle on her. Turning, she sees her companion sitting perfectly straight and staring at her with wide eyes. "No, not for you Nala. I gave you your food already." Clarke waves her hand at the bowl sitting next to her cat on the seat, but nearly loses her fry in her hand as the feline bats at it with one paw.

"No Nala! Fried food is not good for you!" Clarke quickly shoves the fry in her mouth before it can be snatched from her, and continues to eat more of the box. An accusing chirp stops her as she pauses halfway through her fries, however.

Clarke glances over to find that her cat is staring at her with slightly narrowed eyes but still looks as innocent as ever. "I know, fried food isn't good for me either, but not all of us can eat healthy food that comes from a bag." Nala makes another chirp and Clarke sighs. "I know I could have gotten a fruit cup, but… I'm having a tough day, OK?" Nala continues to stare deeply into Clarke's eyes, blue meeting blue, until Clarke can't take it anymore. "Fine! You can have one," the blonde grumbles as she passes a large waffle cut fry over to her cat, who quickly devours it.

Fortunately, Nala eats her own food and leaves Clarke to sip on her lemonade and finish her fries in peace. That is, until Clarke pulls out the box of chicken nuggets. Clarke doesn't even get the nugget to her mouth before she feels the familiar blue eyes on her again. "Ugh, just take it." She growls as she passes the nugget to her feline friend. Clarke practically inhales the last 7 of her nuggets in the time it takes Nala to delicately savor one. Grumbling about her food stealing cat, she gets out of the truck and sucks down the rest of her lemonade before throwing her trash away and getting back inside the truck.

Bolstered by the sugar in her lemonade, Clarke quickly resumes her drive on Maps and gets back onto the road to Polis. Nala, however, curls up on the seat and quickly falls into a deep sleep, full from her lunch.

The next time Nala wakes, an hour has passed and the driver side door is slamming. She yawns and stretches her entire body forward like a dog would then scrunches her back up in the typical cat stretch. The truck is parked backwards in a driveway facing the street, and her owner is nowhere to be found. Nala patiently waits for her human to return, and finally a moment later she does.

"This is it Nala! Ready to see our new home?" Clarke smiles as she opens the passenger side door. She is answered with a happy trill and picks up her cat and the litter box that is sitting on the floor of the passenger side.

Clarke can't help but sigh in happiness as she steps into her new home. It's a small, two story home, similar to the other houses on the block. Upstairs there are two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Downstairs there is a large kitchen connected to a dining area, a living room, another bathroom, and a room that could be an office or another bedroom. This last room is the of the most interest to her, as it faces the backyard and will catch the morning sun, so she plans to turn it into her art studio.

"What do you think?" She asks the cat resting on her hip, but is only answered by squirming. Clarke giggles but gently lowers her pet to the floor, allowing her to explore her new home.

Clarke spends the next few hours unpacking boxes and any other items that are small enough for her to carry by herself or drag. Occasionally, she will see Nala run past her, excited about exploring her new surroundings. The cat's excitement never fails to make her giggle.

After working all afternoon, the sun is setting, and Clarke grabs her phone off the kitchen island to order a pizza, but sees that she has a missed call from Octavia. She decides to call one of her best friends back before ordering her dinner.

"Hey O, what's up?" She speaks as soon as she hears the line click.

"Hey Clarke. Look, we aren't going to make it up there tonight. Bell and I got assigned an extra shift tomorrow, but I promise as soon as it's over Bell, Rae, and I will head up there with your car."

"Uggghhh." Clarke groans out over the phone line. "I don't care about my car, I rented this beast for the weekend so I can shop for some furniture with you guys this weekend. What I really need is a second person to move in the last of my things. There's no way I can get my mattress or even my couch into my house by myself."

"How did you get it into the truck this morning?"

"Uh, I flirted with my neighbor so he would help me." Clarke mumbles.

Octavia laughs at her friend. Clarke had always been quite a character for the many years that she had known her. "Well, just do the same thing! Knock on someone's door and just ask them to help you move the couch. Bell and I can help you with the rest tomorrow."

"But Octavia, I don't know anyone here! I had known him for like 5 years!" Clarke whines, heading towards the living room to look out the front window at the neighboring houses. All the houses have nicely sized front, back, and side yards to give everyone their space, but it's still a traditional suburban neighborhood and she has plenty of options to choose from.

"Well this is the perfect time to meet some of them! C'mon, where's that Griffin charm?"

"Yeah yeah whatever. I've got to go before it gets too dark."

"Alright, love you Clarke! I'll text you when we're on the way tomorrow."

"Love you too, O. G'night." Clarke sighs out as she hangs up the phone. She's not normally shy when talking to strangers, but it's going to be awkward essentially asking for manual labor from one. Putting a big, confident smile on her face, she strides out the front door and looks around for her target.

The first thing she notices is the shiny black pick-up truck sitting in the driveway of the house to her left. 'Hmmm, that wasn't there when I left. Maybe they are just getting home and I can ask for help?' Clarke thinks as she tentatively walks towards the front door. She knocks but gets no answer, so she rings the bell but still gets nothing. Looking around to make sure that no one has seen her failure, she quickly scurries back into her house, grabbing a couple boxes that she had left in the driveway on the way.

"What am I going to do?" The blonde groans out as she picks up her phone, about to dial her other best friend. She only manages to unlock her phone before the screen suddenly goes completely black. "No no no no no!" Clarke yells out in frustration, repeatedly pressing the home button and hoping that her phone comes back to life. When nothing happens, Clarke resigns herself to rummaging through the boxes scattered throughout her house so that she can find her phone charger.

After spending half an hour opening almost half her boxes trying to find her phone charger, she finally pulls it out of one of the boxes marked 'Important Shit.' Thank you, past Clarke. Just as she plugs in her phone, Clarke hears a loud yowl.

"Nala?" Clarke calls out, concerned for her cat in this new environment. She starts searching the house, hoping to find her pet, but it's completely empty.

Suddenly, she hears a much louder, horrible, distressed yowl coming from what must be the back yard. With no hesitation, Clarke sprints out the door, not caring about the fact that it slammed into the house. "Nala? Princess, where are you? Mommy's here!"

From the corner of her eyes, Clarke catches a glimpse of a startled brunette woman, but ignores her presence in favor of looking for her cat. "Nala? Where are you, Nala!"

Another loud yowl allows Clarke to finally locate her precious yellow cat, located high up in a sycamore tree and apparently, unable to get down.


	3. Heda and Nala, Sittin' in a Tree

Upon seeing its owner, the yellow beast's cries only get louder and more distressed. The blonde woman immediately runs through the backyard to stand beneath the tree that straddles their property lines.

"Nala! Sweetie, come down! You can do it!" The blonde yells encouragement to the cat, but the animal only hunkers down into a smaller ball right next to the trunk.

Lexa sighs and drops the bag of grapes in her hands onto the ground. She knows that the cat won't be coming down of its own volition any time soon, and if she wants to stop that horrible yowling, she must get the cat down herself. "Excuse me, ma'am?" Lexa calls out to the blonde, who is still focused on her pet. The woman jumps slightly and turns around to face Lexa, wringing her hands in front of her with her face a mask of distress. "I have a ladder." Lexa calls out, still a little stunned by the beautiful woman who just came running into her life.

The blonde takes a few steps towards her, until the cat starts making pitiful whining noises, which stops her in her tracks. "That would be great, thank you so much. I just moved, and…"

"It's nothing. I will return in a few moments." Lexa waits for the blonde's answering nod and then turns to stride around her side yard to the garage, which she opens with the electronic keypad. She thinks she hears a few yells as the door opens, but can't be sure as the noise from the garage door is loud. As the door stops moving, she realizes that there is a ruckus going on in the backyard, but figures that it's just the blonde trying to soothe her cat. Carefully, she lifts the ladder off its place on the wall and hefts it over her shoulder as she heads back around the house towards the backyard.

The brunette doesn't know how, but somehow in the few moments that she has gone the situation has completely escalated. The blonde is screaming at the tree and trying to jump up to the closest branch, which happens to be ten feet above her head.

"Get away from my princess you animal!" Clarke screams in anger, and Lexa looks up to find Heda perched on a branch holding her paw out to the terrified cat.

"Excuse me?" Lexa growls in anger as she lifts the ladder off her shoulder and onto the ground underneath the tree.

The blonde turns around upon hearing Lexa's voice and clear relief flashes across her face. "Thank God, you have to get her! That _thing_ crawled up the tree and went after my cat! What if it has rabies?"

Lexa frowns at the woman and glances up into the tree where her pet has now settled right next to the cat and appears to be petting the yellow animal's head in comfort. Lexa narrows her eyes at the blonde in anger before beginning her ascent up the ladder. "I sincerely doubt that my raccoon is going to harm your beast."

Lexa pulls herself up onto the branch and glances down at the blonde, who looks equal parts worried and offended. The brunette's attention is drawn upwards once more as Heda chitters at her impatiently. Lexa sighs at her raccoon and quickly climbs up to the branch where the two pets sit huddled together. Slowly, she stretches out her hand for the cat to smell, and Heda starts to purr as the cat appears to accept the tentative pet that Lexa gives her on the head. Now that she knows the fluffy beast won't try to claw her eyes out, the brunette carefully picks the cat up and brings her to her chest. She wobbles for a moment under the weight of the cat – it is a _big_ animal – but manages to keep her balance. Lexa holds in the wince she feels as the cat latches onto her bare shoulder and back with her sharp claws, and then cradles the cat to her chest with one hand while she uses the other to steady herself in climbing down. Heda descends the tree one branch at a time in sync with Lexa, emitting comforting noises all the way down.

When Lexa finally makes it to the lowest branch, she finds Clarke at the top of the ladder waiting for her. Gently, the brunette pries the strong animal's claws out of her skin and hands her down to her owner. Heda runs along the branch and grabs onto Lexa's uninjured shoulder, then holds on as Lexa lowers herself onto the ladder and steps carefully down to the ground.

Despite her earlier anger, Lexa can't help but soften somewhat towards the blonde, who clearly cares deeply for her pet.

The woman is holding the grumpy looking cat up to face her, scolding it. "Nala, don't ever do that again! I was so worried about you. You can't just run off like that, you don't know your way around yet. And climbing trees? What has gotten into you!" The cat lets out an odd little trill and the blonde brings it to her ample chest, squeezing it in a tight hug. The feline starts purring and nuzzling her human, which causes the woman to finally relax.

When blue eyes finally open and meet her own green, Lexa fights off the urge to blush at being caught staring. Fortunately, the blonde takes pity on her.

"Thank you so much for rescuing Nala, I don't know what I would have done without you."

"I'm sure you would have figured something out. You clearly love your… cat?" Lexa trails off, still unsure how this giant fluffy feline could actually be a domesticated housecat.

"Princess Nala, she's a Maine Coon cat." The blonde lovingly looks at her cat and squeezes it tighter. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Clarke. Clarke Griffin."

Lexa reluctantly holds out her hand to shake the blonde's, choosing to ignore her neighbor's surprise upon seeing the raccoon sitting quietly on her shoulder. "Lexa Woods."

The blonde shoots Lexa a friendly smile, and turns her attention to the black masked creature on her neighbor's shoulder. "It's nice to meet you Lexa. And who is this?"

"This is Heda." Lexa stares intently at Clarke, daring her to comment on her choice in pets, but the blonde only smiles.

"I'm sorry about before, I didn't know that she was your pet, Oh!" Clarke is cut off as the raccoon holds out her right paw, and the blonde giggles as she gives the small animal a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Heda."

Heda happily chitters back at the blonde and then leans forward and holds out both hands towards Clarke's chest where Nala is staring intently back at her. The cat twists her body, trying to free herself of her owner's arms. In her struggle to maintain her hold on her pet, Clarke steps forward, putting Heda in striking distance of her cat. Nala immediately puts her big fluffy paws on the raccoon's shoulders and starts gently licking her face. Both animals start purring, and their two owners are frozen in shock, especially Lexa, who had witnessed the two animals at each other's' throats only moments before.

After a few seconds, Nala is satisfied that she has thanked her new friend and turns her attention to Lexa. It only takes one long lick of her rough tongue on her cheek for the brunette to draw back.

Clarke laughs at the horrified look on her new neighbor's face. "That's her way of saying thank you."

Lexa grumpily wipes the wetness off her cheek and glares at the beast that had started all this mess. "Just don't climb any more trees, Nala." Lexa grumbles back at the cat, who only lets out a happy trill in response. Lexa pulls Heda off her shoulder and into her arms, as it looks as if the raccoon is about to leap across the distance separating the two neighbors so that she can be closer to her new crush. "No, Heda, it's time for dinner." Lexa scolds, holding her tightly. "Well, it was nice to meet you Clarke. I'm sure I will see you around. If there's anything that I can do for you, do let me know." Lexa gives Clarke a polite nod and is about to head into her house, but stops when she notices the hesitant look on the blonde's face.

"Well, now that you mention it…"


	4. U-Hauling

Clarke had been shocked to see Nala up so high in the tree, as she had never shown much interest in climbing in the past. As soon as Nala spotted her mother, she had started making even more noises, and Clarke could barely contain her emotions as she ran towards her pet.

"Nala! Sweetie, come down! You can do it!" The blonde yells encouragement to the cat, but the animal only hunkers down into a smaller ball right next to the trunk. Nala shows no sign of moving, and Clarke was starting to wonder whether she should be calling the police or firemen, until a quiet voice calls out to her. She can't help wringing her hands in her distress as she debates how to rescue her precious cat.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

Clarke jumps and turns to face the voice, having completely forgotten the brunette she had run past only a moment earlier.

"I have a ladder." The beautiful brunette calls out to her, and Clarke can't help but take a few stops closer to the woman, until her cat starts whining once again.

Clarke is relieved that her neighbor is willing to help her and she won't have to call emergency services on the first day she moves in. "That would be great, thank you so much. I just moved, and…"

The woman fortunately stops her nervous rambling. "It's nothing. I will return in a few moments."

Clarke nods at the brunette in relief and turns to look back at her cat. "You're OK, Nala. The nice neighbor is going to get you down, just stay still my princess." Nala looks back down at Clarke but suddenly stiffens and puffs all the hair up on her back and hisses. Clarke frantically looks around the tree to see what could be scaring her baby, but can't see anything in the bushes.

Completely absorbed in trying to locate what has her cat irritated, Clarke doesn't see the grey animal rush past until she feels the fur brush past her legs. Clarke jumps and shrieks in surprise and watches in terror as the animal starts to quickly climb the tree, headed straight for her precious pet. Nala starts hissing even louder, and Clarke starts yelling at the wild animal that is deftly scaling the tree.

"Oh my god no! Get away from her, you mangy beast!" When Clarke finally takes note of the distinctive ringed tail, her yells only get louder. "You dirty raccoon, leave her alone!"

The raccoon slowly approaches her cat, chittering quietly and holding out it's little black hand towards the yellow feline. Clarke watches in worry as her cat stops hissing and glares at the little black masked creature.

"Get away from my princess you animal!" Clarke screams in anger.

"Excuse me?" Clarke hears Lexa say from behind her, and she instantly feels relief at another's presence.

"Thank God, you have to get her! That _thing_ crawled up the tree and went after my cat! What if it has rabies?"

The brunette frowns at her and glances up into the tree where her the two pets are now sitting side by side. Clarke's worry and confusion increase as she notices that the raccoon appears to be petting her cat's head in comfort.

"I sincerely doubt that my raccoon is going to harm your beast."

From the angry Clarke instantly realizes that she has insulted her neighbor but can't help but be offended by the fact that this woman had the audacity to call her pure-bred cat a "beast" when her choice in pet is a wild animal.

Nevertheless, the brunette doesn't hesitate to climb the ladder and hoist herself up onto the branches. Clarke is mesmerized by the brunette's flexing muscles on her bare arms and back, but her attention is quickly drawn back to her poor pet as the raccoon starts chittering. When her neighbor finally reaches the branch that Nala is sitting on, Clarke is about to call up to her to be careful, but the woman approaches the cat slowly and even holds out a hand for the yellow animal to smell. Surprisingly, Nala readily accepts the gentle pat on the head and allows herself to be picked up, which is unusual as it normally takes her some time to warm up to new people, although as soon as she knew a person she was very friendly towards them.

Clarke instantly feels better once her cat is safely tucked into this stranger's arms. Slowly, her neighbor slowly descends the branches, and Clarke gets up on the ladder to take her cat from the brunette. Out of the corner of her eye, the blonde sees the raccoon descending the tree as well.

As soon as Clarke gets her cat into her arms, she hugs her close to her chest and starts cooing to her. "My princess, you're OK." Her cat lets out a little huff of exasperation as she squeezes a little too tightly, so Clarke holds her out in front of her to scold the yellow cat now that she knows her precious pet is safe. "Nala, don't ever do that again! I was so worried about you. You can't just run off like that, you don't know your way around yet. And climbing trees? What has gotten into you!"

Nala trills back at Clarke in an apologetic manner, and Clarke brings her back into a tight hug. Immediately, Nala starts purring and nuzzling into Clarke, which finally causes the blonde to relax.

After a long moment, Clarke realizes where she is, and opens her eyes to find vivid green staring back at her. She is slightly embarrassed for her odd behavior, but thinks that she catches a slight blush on the pretty brunette's face. "Thank you so much for rescuing Nala, I don't know what I would have done without you."

"I'm sure you would have figured something out. You clearly love your… cat?"

"Princess Nala, she's a Maine Coon cat." Clarke can't resist gazing at her pet once more and giving her a squeeze in happiness that she is safe, all thanks to this stranger. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Clarke. Clarke Griffin." The brunette holds out her hand, and Clarke can't hide her surprise at the raccoon sitting quietly on her shoulder.

"Lexa Woods." The woman says, giving Clarke a brief but firm handshake.

Clarke shoots Lexa a friendly smile, and turns her attention to the black masked creature on her neighbor's shoulder. "It's nice to meet you Lexa. And who is this?"

"This is Heda." Lexa tells her, face stoic and unwavering.

Clarke smiles apologetically at the small creature and then back at her new neighbor. "I'm sorry about before, I didn't know that she was your pet, Oh!" Clarke is cut off as the raccoon holds out her right paw, and she giggles as she gives the small animal a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Heda."

Heda chitters back at Clarke in what Clarke thinks is a friendly way and then leans forward and holds out both hands towards Clarke's chest where Nala is staring intently back at her. The cat twists her body, trying to free herself of her owner's arms. In her struggle to maintain her hold on her pet, Clarke steps forward, putting Heda in striking distance of her cat. Nala immediately puts her big fluffy paws on the raccoon's shoulders and starts gently licking her face. Both animals start purring, and their two owners are frozen in shock.

After a few seconds, Nala is satisfied that she has thanked her new friend and turns her attention to Lexa. It only takes one long lick of her rough tongue on her cheek for the brunette to draw back.

Clarke laughs at the horrified look on her new neighbor's face. "That's her way of saying thank you."

Lexa is now sporting an adorably grumpy look as she wipes the wetness off her cheek and glares at the beast that had started all this mess. "Just don't climb any more trees, Nala." Lexa tells the cat, who only lets out a happy trill in response.

Clarke watches Lexa pull her raccoon into her arms to keep her away from Nala. "No, Heda, it's time for dinner." Lexa scolds, squeezing her arms tightly. "Well, it was nice to meet you Clarke. I'm sure I will see you around. If there's anything that I can do for you, do let me know."

Lexa gives Clarke a polite nod and Clarke realizes that she might as well ask her neighbor for another favor. She's not keen on knocking on strangers' doors in the dark, and the woman had been more than willing to rescue Nala. "Well, now that you mention it…" As soon as Clarke speaks, the brunette stops and patiently waits for Clarke to continue. "You see… My friends were supposed to come down here tonight and help me move the rest of my stuff in, I already moved most of my boxes in, but my friends can't come and now I don't have anywhere to sleep, so would you mind helping me move in my bed, or even my couch?" Clarke quickly rushes out her words, and the moment that Lexa stares at her feels like an eternity.

"No."

Clarke's mouth drops open in shock, as the famous Clarke Griffin charm had never failed her, and she can't believe this woman would deny her something to sleep on or even give a reason for her refusal. "No?"

Lexa's eyes widen slightly, and she quickly rushes out, "No, as in I do not mind. I mean yes. Yes in that I will help you."

Clarke laughs at her flustered neighbor and relaxes. "Thank you, so much. I'm going to put Nala inside, do you need to take care of Heda?"

"She'll probably just end up following us, she has a door to go outside."

"OK, I'll meet you out in front then?" When Lexa nods, Clarke heads back inside and gently sets Nala onto the ground then walks through the house and makes sure that all the doors and windows are closed. She doesn't need her precious baby getting outside again.

Once Clarke is sure that her house is locked up tight, she steps outside but doesn't see Lexa anywhere. Darkness is rapidly falling, so she heads towards Lexa's house to make sure she isn't inside, but as she approaches the U-Haul, she hears shouting and rummaging going on inside.

"No, Heda, stop it! Heda, put it back!"

Clarke hears loud chittering and then a bang as a small grey blur runs out of her U-Haul and straight for her. Clarke bends down, trying to grab the raccoon, but it dodges to the side and avoids her outstretched arms. Clarke giggles as Lexa staggers out of the back of the U-Haul, rubbing her shin and looking around wildly for her pet.

"Clarke, I'm so sorry, I tried to stop her. Did you see which way she went?"

"It's fine, Lexa, it's in her nature, right?" Clarke scans the yard in the low light, trying to locate the thief. "What did she take?"

Lexa walks up to Clarke's side, frantically scanning the area. "I'm not sure, it looked like a small stuffed animal?"

"It was probably one of Nala's mouse toys. Nala has plenty, Heda can keep it if she likes it that much."

At that moment, the two women hear chittering, and then some loud trills, and they know that their pets have met once more. Following the sound, Clarke sees a grey butt and distinctive ringed tail sticking out of the mail slot in her front door. The blonde can't help laughing at the sight, and she only laughs harder at the sight of her neighbor frantically running towards the raccoon.

Clarke watches as Lexa grabs Heda's stomach and gently but firmly tugs her free from the slot. However, Heda manages to hold onto the mail slot with her fingers, keeping it open so she can continue her "conversation" with the cat on the other side, the cat who now has a bright pink mouse in her mouth. Lexa pries Heda's fingers off the mail slot and looks as if she is going to scold her pet, but Clarke calls out to her.

"Don't be mad at her. She's so sweet trying to help out her new neighbor, just like her owner." Clarke gives Heda a pat on the head, still not completely sure how the raccoon will react to affection from a stranger. Her pretty owner is blushing, and Clarke leans around her to open the door. "Obviously, they can't stay away from each other. Just let them be together."

Nala drops her mouse and looks as if she is about to climb up Lexa's leg, but Heda struggles enough to free herself from her owner's tight grip and jumps down to meet her new friend. Nala butts Heda's head with her own and then bats the mouse into the hallway. The two animals quickly run after the toy as it starts emitting a squeaking noise.

"Now that the children are occupied, ready to move the furniture?" Clarke teases her neighbor, who responds with a shy smile and quick nod.

The two women walk side-by-side back out to the U-Haul, and peer into the back of the dark truck in the fading light. Lexa pulls out her phone, turns on her flashlight, and holds it up, which brings the dark shapes of Clarke's furniture into view. "Well, what would you like to start with?" she breaks the silence.

"Oh, we don't need to get it all tonight. My friends are going to be here tomorrow." Clarke feels bad enough that Lexa barely knows her and has already done so much for her, she doesn't want to ask her for more than she has to. "My couch will be good enough."

"Are you sure? What about your bed? Will you be comfortable enough on your couch for the night?"

Clarke hesitates; she would love to sleep on her bed and her couch is comfortable enough for one night, but from what she can see in the darkness, her neighbor looks genuine. "Well if you don't mind…" When Lexa gives her a stoic nod, Clarke goes on. "We can just get my mattress then? And the couch? Everything else can wait until tomorrow."

"OK." Lexa's soft voice soothes Clarke in her decision, and the brunette sets her phone onto a table face up, so that it eerily lights up the inside of the trailer.

Clarke's mattress is upright to one side of the trailer, and Lexa steps up into the truck and walks deeper into the trailer to push the mattress out of the back of the truck while Clarke stands at the end to grab it as it slides out. Once the mattress is almost out, Lexa steps down from the truck and after a quick count to three, picks up the other end and waits for Clarke to get her grip. "Ready?"

Clarke struggles to get her grip on the bulky mattress, but once she feels sturdy enough she responds, "Yeah, let's go."

The blonde leads the way into the house and up the stairs, taking care to make sure that Lexa is doing fine, but the brunette never falters. Clarke almost does when she catches sight of Lexa's straining biceps on the way up the stairs, but she manages to pull herself out of it and not drop the mattress down the stairs and onto her helpful neighbor. Finally, they maneuver the mattress into the master bedroom and while Lexa is about to lower her end gently to the floor, Clarke just drops her end hard onto the ground, forcing the brunette to let go of her end too.

Clarke wipes the sweat that has gathered on her forehead with the back her hand and beams at Lexa. "Well, that wasn't too bad now, was it?"

Lexa smiles back at her and opens and closes her hands to get rid of the tension from holding the mattress, which draws Clarke's attention to the fact that Lexa's fingers are really _long_. "Do you want the headboard too?" Lexa asks, drawing Clarke out of her admiration of Lexa's fingers.

"No, this is fine. Ready for the couch?"

Before Lexa can answer, loud chitters and chirps come from the hallway and Heda and Nala come rushing through Lexa's legs. Heda, the smaller of the two animals, runs right through Lexa's legs and bounces happily onto the bed. Nala, however, being much fluffier, nearly causes Lexa to fall over as she follows Heda and pounces on the raccoon on top of the bed. The two animals playfully roll around for a moment and then sprint out of the room just as suddenly as they had appeared.

Clarke and Lexa are shocked by the sudden appearance and disappearance of their pets and dissolve into laughter as soon as they make eye contact. Once they have managed to gain control of their laughter, Clarke gives Lexa's elbow a quick squeeze and a smile. "Let's go before those hooligans come back." What Clarke misses on her way out, however, is the blush that makes Lexa's ears turn red at the familiar contact.


	5. Welcome to the Neighborhood

After struggling to lift Clarke's mattress up the stairs and maneuver it through the doorways, carrying the couch inside was much easier. As soon as Clarke has steered the couch into relatively the middle of the room, she drops her end and plops down onto the cushions and lets out a huff, exhausted from the long day of carrying boxes and driving. Lexa remains standing, shifting her weight subtly from foot to foot, until Clarke pats the cushion next to her.

Lexa gingerly sits down on the farthest cushion from Clarke, leaving a cushion of space in between her and the blonde. Just as she finally relaxes enough to lean back, her phone starts buzzing loudly, startling her slightly as it tickles her hip. Lexa pulls it out and sees that Anya had sent her several text messages and was now calling her. "Excuse me, I should take this." She mumbles to Clarke in apology.

Clarke smiles and waves her apology off then stands up and disappears into the kitchen. Lexa is distracted enough by Clarke's backside that she almost forgets to swipe her phone to answer it before it goes to voicemail. "Hello?" She manages to croak out in greeting.

"Where have you been? You texted me concerned about your baby and then don't even answer any of my texts. Did you find her and get caught up cooing your love to Heda?"

Lexa rolls her eyes at her best friend's teasing concern. "Yes, I found her. But do you mind if I call you later? I'm at my neighbor's house."

"What neighbor's house? You hardly ever hang out with your neighbors. I distinctly remember you telling me that when that demented loon Titus finally moved into a nursing home and nominated you as 'Commander of the Coalition' or as a normal person calls it, Head of the Homeowner's Association, he told you 'to be Heda is to be alone'."

Clarke returns with her own phone just as Lexa is rolling her eyes at Anya's mocking. The blonde giggles and sits back down in her previous seat but this time with her back against the arm rest so she can face Lexa.

"It's a new neighbor, she just moved in. Look, I should go…" Lexa trails off as Anya starts to excitedly speak over her.

"Your new neighbor is a _she_? And you're already at her house? Wow you work fast Commander, look at you and your smooth moves!"

Lexa blushes, hoping that Clarke can't hear Anya's excited rant, and loudly mutters a hasty "Goodbye, Anya" before jabbing the 'End Call' button on her phone screen. "Sorry, it was just my friend."

Clarke smiles widely at her. "Don't worry, my friends can be quite persistent as well. If you don't need to go, I was wondering if you wanted to order food with me?" Lexa's almost imperceptible widening of her eyes motivates Clarke to quickly add, "As a thank you for helping me. Move my furniture. If you haven't had dinner yet, of course. I haven't eaten yet and was thinking if I ordered pizza you might want some as well. But if you need to get back home that's fine too."

Fortunately for Clarke, her rambling is cut off by the two pets jumping onto the couch cushion in between them. Lexa is also saved from having to answer immediately by the arrival of the animals. Heda quickly scurries to give Lexa's cheek a quick lick while Nala does the same to Clarke, before they meet in the middle again to start a mutual grooming of the other, Nala licking Heda's stomach while Heda sits on her hind legs to carefully smooth out Nala's wild fur.

Clarke giggles at the two pets' antics and pulls out her phone to start taking a video of the event, while Lexa takes the opportunity to take a quick picture of Heda and Nala and send it off to Anya as an explanation for her abrupt end to their phone call. Anya replies almost immediately to the photo with a text.

 ** _Fos_** _: Your neighbor as a great rack. No wonder you hung up on me. Take another picture with her face in it this time._

Lexa blushes as she realizes that the background of the picture of the pets does indeed include Clarke's torso and what she admits is Clarke's stellar rack. She fights the blush on her cheeks and quickly locks her phone, shoving it back into her waistband. At Clarke's questioning look, Lexa's blush deepens, and she absorbs herself with quietly watching her raccoon snuggle up to the larger cat and close her eyes. It's in those quiet moments that she remembers Clarke had asked her a question. "I haven't eaten dinner yet, and if you want pizza I know a great place close by that delivers. But let me buy, as a welcome to the neighborhood."

Clarke's smile shifts her smile from the two animals to Lexa, and the brunette feels like she might melt from the radiance in that gaze. "Oh no, not after all you've done today. Rescuing Nala and helping me move in… This one's on me."

"No really, I've got it." Lexa insists, grabbing her phone and pulling up the number from her contacts. "What do you like?"

Clarke shrugs. "Anything. I'm pretty easy."

Lexa notices a light blush on Clarke's cheeks but chooses to save her new neighbor any teasing and ignore the suggestive words, although she secretly hopes that Clarke's taste applies to more than just pizza.

"Hi, I'd like to place an order for delivery? One medium pizza, half cheese and half pepperoni." Lexa waits for the man to confirm the order and then gives him Clarke's address. "21402 Kongeda Way… Thank you."

Lexa hangs up the phone and then looks up from where she had been staring at her hand in her lap to meet Clarke's vibrant blue gaze. "It should be here in 20 minutes. I didn't want to have to disturb these two, so I ordered it here. I hope that's OK?"

Clarke gives Lexa reassuring smile. "Of course it is. Although I haven't really unpacked much yet…"

Lexa holds up her hand and gets to her feet. "I can grab some things from my house. What would you like to drink? I have bottled water, iced tea, beer…"

Clarke considers her options, for half a second before replying. "I'd love a beer, but only if you're drinking too. If not, I'll just take water."

Lexa nods and starts ticking off items on her fingers. "Got it. Two beers, napkins, some paper plates, a trash bag, anything else you can think of?"

"Maybe some food for Heda? I was going to put out some food for Nala, and I don't want her to be the only one not eating."

Lexa glances at her pet to make sure she will be fine while she is gone, but Heda continues to sleep peacefully intertwined with the cat. "Good idea. I'll bring her bowl over." Lexa glances at Clarke one last time before turning for the door, calling over her shoulder, "I'll be back shortly."

Lexa abruptly stops, however, when Clarke lets out a gasp. She freezes and turns around to find a wide eyed Clarke holding both hands over her mouth. "What's wrong, Clarke?"

Clarke swallows and tentatively speaks. "How does your shoulder feel?"

Lexa is confused and shrugs her shoulders. That action brings attention to the burning in her left shoulder blade that she had been ignoring, or more likely, that Clarke's presence had distracted her from. "It hurts a little, why?" At Clarke's apologetic look, she contorts her neck trying to see her back, just managing to catch sight of some angry, deep scratches and dried blood on the skin revealed by her racerback tank top.

Lexa is startled as Clarke rushes towards her, hand hovering over the scratches. "I'm so sorry! I have a first aid kit somewhere in my boxes. My mom's a doctor, I can have her get you some cream or something so it doesn't scar. I swear Nala's not normally like this…"

Lexa turns to face Clarke and gently rests her right hand on Clarke's shoulder to bring her out of her panicked ramble. "Clarke, it's fine. Nala was scared, I don't blame her for it. These aren't the first scars I'll have nor the last ones I'll get."

Clarke looks mollified but still slightly anxious. "At least let me clean them for you. You won't be able to reach them. And I have a pretty heavy duty First Aid Kit, thanks to my mother."

"Thank you. I'll just run over to my house real quick while you look for it…" Lexa smirks as her eyes rove over the random piles of disorganized boxes.

Clarke playfully pushes Lexa's hand of her shoulder in mock offense. "Shut up! I literally just moved in."

Their playful moment is broken by a loud 'meow' from a suddenly alert feline. Heda adds her own scolding chitters aimed towards her owner.

Lexa sighs and pets Heda's head soothingly, holding out her arm for the raccoon to scamper up. "She's hungry, I better go get her food. See you in a bit?"

Clarke is already rummaging in a box labeled 'Princess's royal luggage.' "Yep! The door will be unlocked, just come back when you two are ready so I can dress your wound before we eat."

"OK." Lexa says quietly, before heading out the door, the fact that she will be returning to her new neighbor in only moments making her departure bearable.


	6. Pre-Pizza Party

While digging through the box devoted to Nala's things, Clarke ponders her interactions with her new neighbor. Lexa seemed shy, but had been very kind to her. Plus, she was hardly angry at all about the wounds that Nala had inflicted on her shoulder. Clarke knows that there had been a few awkward moments between them, but thankfully their two pets had provided a distraction and something they could bond over. She could see Lexa becoming a friend to her in this town, and if she's honest with herself she is attracted to the brunette, but…

"Let's not go there, right Nala?" Clarke looks up from her search to see Nala sitting perfectly still and staring at her with deep blue eyes. "We moved here for a fresh start and besides, I'm not ready for another relationship."

Nala lets out a quiet meow, and Clarke sighs. "I know she's hot, did you see her muscles? Ugh of course you did you had your claws all over them! She's barely known me for two hours and is already scarred, what does that say about me?"

Nala silently pads over to Clarke and rubs her body against Clarke's bent legs. The blonde sits back from the open box in front of her and pulls her cat into her arms. "I know, it wasn't my fault… but I'm here for a fresh start and to focus on my art. _Not_ to jump into another relationship." Nala starts purring and Clarke allows it to comfort her, burying her face in the cat's thick soft fur. After a moment, Clarke has relaxed and loosens her grip around her pet. Nala takes this as the opportunity to leap from Clarke's arms into the box, searching through her toys and brushes and other items until she reaches the bag of food.

The blonde laughs at her pet's antics and pulls her and her food from the box. "Alright, let's go get your dinner, Princess." Nala wriggles in excitement, and Clarke lets her pet's happiness fuel her own and steadfastly ignores the twinge from using the nickname given to her pet by her ex.

While Nala starts to voraciously dig into her food, Clarke begins shuffling boxes, looking for the box with the First Aid Kit inside. After a few fruitless forages through the boxes labeled "Bathroom", Clarke finally finds a box labeled in all capital red letters in the distinctive handwriting of one of her best friends. 'Open if you're bleeding.' Clarke rolls her eyes and opens the box to find her First Aid Kit nestled into the middle of the box filled with tampons. Clarke laughs and takes a Snap of the inside and outside of the box before sending it to 'The Delinquents' group chat.

Clarke doesn't bother waiting for a reply, and instead brings the First Aid Kit into the bathroom to get start setting up the supplies she'll need. She digs through it to find a large enough bandage to cover Lexa's scrapes, gauze, disinfectant, antibiotic cream, and latex gloves. While she's in the bathroom, she realizes that her toilet paper is still packed away, and runs out of the bathroom to search through the boxes once more. By the time that task is complete, the doorbell is ringing.

The blonde answers the door with a smile, which quickly turns into a look of surprise at the sight that greets her. Instead of the beautiful brunette, a scrawny blonde teenager is at her doorstep, holding a pizza. He at least seems surprised to see her as well, staring at her in shock.

"Aden!" Lexa calls from her yard, jogging over with her wallet and a trash bag in her hands.

The teenager, who Clarke assumes must be Aden, turns to speak with the brunette. "Lexa, hi! Was this pizza for you?" He begins frantically double checking the receipt for his intended address, but Lexa gently places her hand over his to stop it.

"Yes, but you have the right address. I'm just welcoming my new neighbor to Polis with the best pizza in town." At this, Aden looks up and smiles warmly at Clarke as Lexa introduces him. "Aden, this is Clarke. Clarke, Aden."

"Clarke, it's nice to meet you. Welcome to Polis." The teenager shifts the pizza to his left hand so that he can hold out his right hand for a polite handshake.

"It's nice to meet you too, Aden." Clarke returns his handshake, unable to hide her smile at the young man's manners.

The two blondes release hands at the sound of some excited chitters. Aden smiles and looks at Lexa, who holds out her hands to take the pizza from the teen. Aden squats down and holds out his hands for Heda, who emerges from the darkness walking on her two hind legs and holding her bowl in her front paws. She quickly drops it and scurries forward to greet one of her favorite humans. Heda scampers into Aden's arms, giving him gentle kisses on his cheek while the boy pets her head.

When Heda scampers up Aden's arm and onto his shoulder to start smoothing out his styled hair, Aden laughs and gently sets her back on the ground. "No Heda, it's supposed to look like that."

The raccoon scolds the boy, clearly disliking his spiked hair, but quickly shifts her focus when she hears a quiet "meow" from the doorway. As soon as Heda sees Nala sitting in the doorway perfectly straight with her tail swaying back and forth, she grabs her bowl and scurries after her new friend.

Aden laughs at the two animals. "Heda's smitten, I see." He raises his eyebrow at Lexa, who scowls and hands him a $20 bill.

"Keep the change, A. And I'll see you on Saturday, right?"

"Lexa, no, it's too much." The boy searches through his wallet for change, but Lexa quickly stops him.

"Save it. I know you're saving up to buy a present for Tris for your 6-month anniversary."

Aden blushes, but shoves the bill in his pocket. "Thanks, Lex. See you Saturday. And it was nice to meet you Clarke, but I've got another pizza to deliver before it gets cold." He waves goodbye to the two women and jogs back to his car.

"He seems like a nice boy. How do you know him?" Clarke asks Lexa as Aden drives off.

Lexa waves one last goodbye to the boy and then turns to Clarke to answer her question. "He's dating my best friend's daughter. And he's part of the junior rangers program."

"Junior rangers program?"

Lexa remembers that Clarke is new to town and that so far, they have really only talked about their pets, so she quickly explains. "I'm the head park ranger at Polis National Park. I hold youth outreach programs on the weekends, and Aden is one of my most enthusiastic students."

"You're a park ranger? Well suddenly Heda makes more sense."

Lexa smiles fondly as she remembers her first meeting with Heda. "Yeah, I found her while I was working. I tried to get her to a rescue facility, but the roads were blocked due to a snow storm. After taking care of her for two days, I couldn't bear to give her up for rehabilitation, but I knew that I had to give her a chance to return to the wild. But a few days after bringing her to the rehab facility, they called to tell me that she would never survive in the wild due to a genetic vitamin deficiency. So, I took her back and the rest is history."

Clarke smiles at Lexa's expression of love and joy while talking about her beloved pet. "That's so sweet." Suddenly, she realizes that they are still standing on her front porch and blushes at her rudeness. "I'm so sorry, please come in. We can dress your wound and then eat. Can I take that for you?" Clarke holds out her hand and Lexa accepts Clarke's offer and gives the pizza and trash bag to her.

"Thanks. I'll just ran back and grab the drinks."

"Perfect. I'll put this in the oven to keep it warm. Feel free to come right in when you come back. OK?"

"Will do. I'll be right back!" Lexa calls as she jogs back to her house.

Clarke smiles at the brunette's retreating figure, unable to help herself from a quick peek at the brunette's ass in action as she runs. Shaking her head at herself, she forces her eyes of her hot neighbor and heads into the house to put the pizza away and locate the two pets.


	7. Pizza Party Part 1

Lexa decides to leave her wallet at home, safely locked in the drawer away from Heda's sneaky fingers. She still remembers the last time she had lost her wallet, or more like had it stolen, with all her credit cards in it. She had spent the entire day looking for it, only to find that Heda had buried it in the dirt of one her house plants. Lexa still holds it as one her greatest moments of outwitting her cunning pet, although she knows that if Heda had opposable thumbs she would be completely screwed. On that note, she grabs two of her all-natural homemade biscuits, one to give her pet for dessert and one just in case for Nala. She fills her other hand with two beers from the local brewery, napkins, and paper plates, before she steps out of her front door, not bothering to lock it behind her.

As she reaches Clarke's front door, she hesitates, knowing that Clarke had told her to just walk in but still feeling that it would be impolite as they had only just met. After a moment, Lexa finally decides to enter, quickly opening and closing the door so as not to let Nala out once more. "Clarke?" She calls out, still standing in the entryway. There is no answer, but when Lexa hears giggling, she decides to follow the musical sound of Clarke's laugh.

As Clarke's house is laid out in a similar manner to hers, Lexa guesses that Clarke must be in the kitchen. Peaking her head around the corner, she finally spies the blonde and the source of her entertainment. Heda and Nala are perched on the countertop, happily eating dinner from their bowls. Clarke has even been kind enough to put a bowl of water down in between the two pets to share. Heda, as per usual when she eats dry food, gently dunks pieces of food in the water before daintily eating them. Clarke and Nala, both apparently amused by this, sit watching the raccoon pluck a piece of food from her bowl, dip it twice in the water, and then pop it into her mouth.

Lexa hates to interrupt their amusement, but doesn't want Clarke to feel like she is being spied on. "Clarke…" Lexa calls gently, trying not to startle the blonde.

"Ah!" Clarke jumps, turning to face Lexa with a hand on her chest. Nala only flicks one ear in Lexa's direction, clearly having heard the brunette's approach, before going back to observing her new friend's eating habits.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Lexa apologizes. She knew she shouldn't have just walked in to the blonde's house like that.

Clarke, upon seeing Lexa's guilt, smiles warmly at her. "No, it's not your fault. I was just too busy watching Heda eat to hear you come in. Does she always do that?" Clarke gestures to Heda, who is now trying to feed a water soaked piece of food to a hesitant Nala.

Lexa gives a quick nod in affirmation. "Yeah, whenever she's about to eat something dry she prefers to get it wet." As soon as the words come out of her mouth, Lexa realizes that what she had said could have a much different connotation, one that her new neighbor is aware of, judging by her attempts to hold in her laughter.

"That's a good philosophy to live by." Clarke smirks back, and Lexa groans. Secretly, she jumps with joy, because maybe this means that Clarke is interested in women and could be interested in her… No. 'Love is weakness' she internally chides herself. She had been down that path before, and it only held heartbreak for her.

Upon seeing Lexa's sudden change in mood, Clarke worries, hoping that she didn't make her new neighbor uncomfortable with the innuendo. Deciding that changing the subject is the best option, Clarke grabs her keys and thumps through them until she finds the bottle opener on her key chain. "Here," Clarke tells the brunette, pulling her out of her thoughts by nudging her hand with the bottle opener. "You can start on your beer while I clean your wounds. Maybe it'll help with the pain."

Lexa accepts the opener, knowing that nothing could truly take her pain away. But that's not a subject for someone she just met; it's not even something she has really discussed with Anya all that much. Instead, Lexa opens both bottles and holds out the second to Clarke. "Pain is just weakness leaving the body, Klark."

Clarke rolls her eyes and gives Lexa a playful shove as she leads the way to the bathroom. "What are you, a 16 year old boy?" Clarke lowers her already husky voice even further, trying to imitate one of the football players she knew from her class back in high school. "I can bench press 300 pounds, Clarke. Here, I'll share the rest of my protein shake with you. Today was leg day, how do my thighs look? This broken arm? No of course it doesn't hurt. Pain is weakness leaving the body, and I don't have a weak bone in my body."

Lexa laughs at Clarke's impersonation as she follows the blonde into the bathroom. "I'm guessing you were a cheerleader in high school then."

Clarke gasps and sets her beer on the counter, crossing her arms and acting offended. "Just because I'm pretty and blonde does not mean I was a cheerleader!"

"That helps too, but I was more referring to the fact that the football players were actually _talking_ to you."

Clarke smirks at Lexa from under her eyelashes as she whispers, so you think "I'm pretty then?" As soon as the words leave her mouth, Clarke wants to take them back. Moments ago, she had just been telling herself that she was here to focus on her fresh start, and here she is flirting with her neighbor…

Lexa's eyes widen ever so slightly, but she fights to keep her face stoic and the blush off it. Instead of responding verbally, she takes a step closer to the blonde and sets her own beer on the counter, noticing that the pulse beating just under the fair skin of Clarke's neck accelerates. Interesting… She too is determined to keep her relationship solidly at the friend level, but it wouldn't hurt to tease a little since Clarke had started it…

Before Clarke can even process the fact that Lexa's face is inches from hers, she suddenly finds strong hands gripping her waist and lifting her into the air, setting her gently on the bathroom counter. Blue eyes widen in surprise at this sudden change in events, or more specifically how the hot brunette came to be between her legs. Before she can respond, Lexa smiles innocently at her and turns around, lifting her long curly hair off her slender shoulders. Clarke just stares, still in shock, until Lexa glances over her shoulder at the blonde.

"The pizza is going to get cold if you don't hurry and clean my wound, Klark. I thought since I am taller than you that it would be easier for you to reach this way."

"Right." Clarke mumbles, grabbing the gloves she had already laid out. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she starts to gently dab Lexa's wound with alcohol wipes. God, is she drunk already? She barely took two sips of her beer! As she continues to clean, the silence between the two women grows, and Clarke searches for a way to steer them back into a more platonic direction. "So, what cliché clique did you belong to in high school? Band geek? Goth? I could actually picture you with some heavy eye liner and a 'don't mess with me' attitude."

Lexa laughs, ignoring the burning on her shoulder. She tells herself that it's from the alcohol wipe and not from Clarke's touch. "Fortunately, I learned the skill of applying eye liner after a disastrous first attempt when I was 12. I was actually class president my freshman year and school president the other 3."

"Me too!" Clarke shouts in excitement. "It's nice to finally meet someone worthy of my station."

"Did you continue on in college, too?" Lexa asks excitedly, glad to have found something else she has in common with the blonde.

"No, I didn't have time." Clarke mumbles sadly as she gently dabs the antibiotic cream onto Lexa's now clean cuts. "I wanted to, but I was trying to double major and just couldn't do it."

"That's very impressive, Clarke. What were your majors?"

Clarke holds in a sigh as she carefully peels off the plastic from the band aid. "I graduated with a degree in Art. My second major was Premed Biology, but I never finished it." She focuses on carefully smoothing out the band aid, avoiding getting the sticky part on Lexa's wounds and avoiding thoughts of the fights her choice in major had caused with her mother. Instinctively, she then places a gentle kiss over the bandage. When she realizes what she had done, she blushes and pulls away. "I'm sorry, it's a habit. I'm always patching up my friends, and it's something my mom had always done for me..."

Lexa turns around and brushes off the gesture with a smile and quick squeeze to Clarke's knee. "Thank you for cleaning my wound, Clarke. If you are half as good an artist as you are a healer, then I am sure your paintings are outstanding."

Clarke smiles and looks down at her hands as she slowly strips the gloves off. "Thank you, Lexa."

Lexa gets lost in gentle blue eyes for a moment, but as soon as she realizes it, she grabs her beer and steps back to give Clarke space to jump down from the counter. "Ready for your 'welcome to the neighborhood' pizza?"

Clarke nods and the two women laugh as her stomach chooses that moment to let out a loud grumble. "Yeah, let's go. You did say it was the best pizza in town, right?"


End file.
